Nuclei CLI Playbook

Official docs:

• https://docs.projectdiscovery.io/opensource/nuclei/running
• https://docs.projectdiscovery.io/opensource/nuclei/mass-scanning-cli
• https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei

Canonical syntax: nuclei [flags]

High-signal flags:

• -u, -target <url> single target
• -l, -list <file> targets file
• -im, -input-mode <mode> list/burp/jsonl/yaml/openapi/swagger
• -t, -templates <path|tag> explicit template path(s)
• -tags <tag1,tag2> run by tag
• -s, -severity <critical,high,...> severity filter
• -as, -automatic-scan tech-mapped automatic scan
• -ni, -no-interactsh disable OAST/interactsh requests
• -rl, -rate-limit <n> global request rate cap
• -c, -concurrency <n> template concurrency
• -bs, -bulk-size <n> hosts in parallel per template
• -timeout <seconds> request timeout
• -retries <n> retries
• -stats periodic scan stats output
• -silent findings-only output
• -j, -jsonl JSONL output
• -o <file> output file

Agent-safe baseline for automation: nuclei -l targets.txt -as -s critical,high -rl 50 -c 20 -bs 20 -timeout 10 -retries 1 -silent -j -o nuclei.jsonl

Common patterns:

• Focused severity scan: nuclei -u https://target.tld -s critical,high -silent -o nuclei_high.txt
• List-driven controlled scan: nuclei -l targets.txt -as -rl 50 -c 20 -bs 20 -timeout 10 -retries 1 -j -o nuclei.jsonl
• Tag-driven run: nuclei -l targets.txt -tags cve,misconfig -s critical,high,medium -silent
• Explicit templates: nuclei -l targets.txt -t http/cves/ -t dns/ -rl 30 -c 10 -bs 10 -j -o nuclei_templates.jsonl
• Deterministic non-OAST run: nuclei -l targets.txt -as -s critical,high -ni -stats -rl 30 -c 10 -bs 10 -timeout 10 -retries 1 -j -o nuclei_no_oast.jsonl

Critical correctness rules:

• Provide a template selection method (-as, -t, or -tags); avoid unscoped broad runs.
• Keep -rl, -c, and -bs explicit for predictable resource use.
• Use -ni when outbound interactsh/OAST traffic is not expected or not allowed.
• Use structured output (-j -o <file>) for automation.

Usage rules:

• Start with severity/tags/templates filters to keep runs explainable.
• Keep retries conservative (-retries 1) unless transport instability is proven.
• Do not use -h/--help for routine operation unless absolutely necessary.

Failure recovery:

• If performance degrades, lower -c/-bs before lowering -rl.
• If findings are unexpectedly empty, verify template selection (-as vs explicit -t/-tags).
• If scan duration grows, reduce target set and enforce stricter template/severity filters.

If uncertain, query web_search with: site:docs.projectdiscovery.io nuclei <flag> running